From EMS to caring for cardiac patients

By Jessica Pickens on September 21, 2018

Throughout high school and college, Ron Figura, MD, volunteered with the fire department in his hometown in Upstate New York.

“My dad was in the volunteer fire department, so I got into that and also got involved with EMS,” he said. “I joined in high school and was active with them for 10 years and would help out any time I was home from college.”

His work with the fire department lead him to study pre-hospital care, or EMS.

“It’s interesting to see when a patient becomes a patient,” Dr. Figura said. “Then in college, I found an interest in public health, which ultimately led me to medical school.”

Once in medical school, he knew he wanted to be a surgeon.

“I enjoyed being able to take care of the sickest patients,” he said. “I also preferred surgery of the chest, which led me to cardiac patients.”